Use of the phrase "use precaution"

Factual Questions
1

This is bothering me now: A sign occasionally seen around campus here warns about snow and ice and advises one to “use precaution.” I find this jarringly unidiomatic if not wrong, as have others I’ve pointed it out to. To my mind, it should be either “use caution” or “take precautions.” But, today I noticed the same phrase used on a label on some clothes, and googling the phrase gets lots of hits, some from reasonably reliable web sites, using the phrase in the same way.

Is this usage “wrong”? (Scare quotes because I am, at heart, a descriptivist.) Is it used in some dialects but not mine? Am I simply crazy?

2

Seems wrong (unidiomatic) to me.
But no need to tie yourself up in knots over it. :slight_smile:

3

The OED cites the use of “use…precaution” to at least as far back as 1782:

1782 J. Priestley Hist. Corrupt. Christianity I. Pref. 20, I have used all the care and precaution that I could.

4

Lots of things were idiomatic in 1782 that are not now.

5

But how else am I going to relax on the weekends?

Anyway, glad to hear someone else agrees with me, even if it isn’t a hot topic.

6

Use and take… both idiomatic in and of themselves with regard to ‘precaution’ and both mean the same to me.

7

Thinking about it some more, a “precaution” is a specific measure you take ahead of time to avoid a danger, where “caution” is a more general term referring to being careful. “Use caution” is synonymous with “be careful,” while “take precautions” has the same denotation but with the connotation of taking specific steps to avoid the danger in question. You wouldn’t replace “take measures to avoid slipping” with “use measure to avoid slipping.” That’s what it sounds like to me.